


it seems to me, you can't be free

by myownremedy



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Spoilers, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-18
Updated: 2012-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-21 10:58:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myownremedy/pseuds/myownremedy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma watches Jefferson dress for work. Set after Season 1.<br/>Barely a drabble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it seems to me, you can't be free

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the tumblr prompt: _Leave an “Zip Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about one character dressing another, or the other way around [this can also be used for shutting them up as well, but feel free to specify.]"_  
>  Originally written for [Rachel](http://soaringrachel.tumblr.com/).  
> Title is a slightly modified lyric from Do No Wrong by Thirteen Senses.  
> disclaimer: i don't own ouat, none of this is true, y'all fictional, no copyright infringement intended.  
> edit (4-13-15): this is a transformative work. I make no money off of it. I do not own what inspired this work (Once Upon A Time), but I do own this work itself and hold full copyright over it. Thank you.

Emma’s favorite thing about Jefferson is the thing he hates the most.

She watches from their bed as he buttons his jeans and tucks in his shirt, watches but doesn’t say anything. He’s half asleep and soft at the edges, the madness not yet in him, the sun too heavy for the sky and darkness filtering in through the windows. 

She doesn’t know if it’s because it’s still dark out, but he doesn’t try to hide from her and so her eyes linger on the scar that loops his neck, the scar that makes her think of axes and  _off with his head_.

He feels her eyes on him, pauses in the act of buttoning his shirt and seems to pull inward, shunning her.

“Stop,” she tells him when he reaches for his scarf, desperate to get it on even though his shirt is half buttoned and he’s only wearing one sock. “Jefferson, you’re beautiful.”

The madness wakes, peeks out in the sneer he aims at her words, not at  _her_  and she gets up, doesn’t bother to clutch the sheet around her and presses her fingers to his scar, listens his breath come quick and shushes him when he shudders.

“You don’t have to hide, Jefferson,” she tells him softly.

For a minute, Emma thinks that he believes her; he relaxes, hand loosening on the scarf, lips parting experimentally. She loves him like this, loves when she can read him like Henry’s book; the rest of the time he locks himself away behind clothing and sneers alike, too afraid of his madness and his past to allow himself to get close to anyone.

Then, as if he hears her thoughts, he backs away, twists the scarf and settles it around his neck. His armor is complete.

“I have to get to work,” he says, and she knows that this moment - whatever it is - is over.

 

**Author's Note:**

> visit me on [tumblr!](http://marnz.tumblr.com/) prompts welcome.


End file.
